Dallas-Fort Worth will get 1 of 3 satellite patent offices, according to report

Dallas-Fort Worth is in line for some good news Monday, The Denver Post reports, with the U.S. Commerce Department planning to announce the location of three satellite branches of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

David McCombs, a partner in Haynes and Boone LLP's Dallas office, said Sunday that he was aware of the Commerce Department's intention to locate a satellite office here, but he said he did not believe the agency had decided where to locate the office in the DFW area.

The satellite branch could mean an estimated $439 million in economic impact over five years in Colorado, the Denver Business Journal reported, and likely would have a similar economic impact in Dallas-Fort Worth.

The branches are part of the first expansion of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which is based in Alexandria, Va. The Post said the office gets 500,000 new applications per year and has a backlog of 620,000 pending patents. It is lead by Director David Kappos, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property.

According to The Denver Post article, the three winning metro areas beat out applications from New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Washington state.

In 2010, Commerce officials announced plans to open a satellite office in Detroit. The Detroit satellite branch is scheduled to open this month and at first would employ 100 high-paid, highly-skilled workers.

Expansion of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was mandated by the passage in September of the America Invents Act, which was aimed at promoting innovation. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, required the creation of at least three satellite offices to open by 2014.

Texas has become a center of high-tech innovation and development, making Dallas-Fort Worth an ideal location for a satellite office because of such technology companies as Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN), Richardson-based Samsung Telecommunications America, Dallas-based AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) among many others.

McCombs said it made sense for the office to be located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

"Dallas-Fort Worth had a compelling story for why it should be here," he said.

McCombs cited several factors that weighed in Dallas-Fort Worth's favor, saying the area is centrally located in the country, has a good cost of living for employees, the large of number of Fortune 500 companies that are based here and because Texas was second behind California in the number of patents approved.

Austin: 2,449 patents filed in 2010, up 28 percent from 2006, putting Austin as the No. 10 source of new patents in the United States in 2010.

Houston: 2,190 patents filed in 2010, up 23 percent from 2006, placing it as the No. 12 source of new patents in 2010.

Dallas-Fort Worth: 2,189 patents filed in 2010, up 9 percent from 2006. DFW ranked as the No. 13 source of new patents in 2010.

San Antonio: 315 new patent applications in 2010, up 59 percent from 2006, putting San Antonio the 59th biggest source.

Bill Munck of technology-focused law firm Munck Wilson Mandala LLP in Dallas said the patent and trademark office in North Texas makes sense because of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and the region's strong university presence, including Southern Methodist University and UT Dallas, among others.

"It's a big deal, obviously," Munck said. "If it happens it would be a nice boost to the economy.

"One of the things that would have to happen to have a satellite is you would have high-tech, not only in the form of companies, but also in the form of financing and startups, large-scale companies as well as universities."

The new office would speed up the amount of time it takes to get a patent issued, which has been a big problem, Munck said.

"Considering how many tech companies there are, having a satellite office here would be fantastic," he said.

Doug Cawley, principal with Dallas-based intellectual property firm McKool Smith, said the patent and trademark office will bring more credibility to the practice of patent law in this part of the country.

"There are cases where people need to go in person to the patent office, and that will be not only a convenience but a recognition of North Texas as an important technology center.

Neither Cawley nor Munck knew where the office will go within North Texas, but Cawley said the offices typically go into new, freestanding buildings as opposed to existing government office space.

When told that San Jose and Denver were the other two selected sites, Cawley said "That's good company."

Jeremy Vickers, director of innovation for the Dallas Regional Chamber, said Sunday for more than a year, the chamber has been working on a proposal that would secure a satellite office in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“We knew we were in the running, but we have not received official confirmation,” Vickers said in a phone interview late Sunday. “The chamber was part of a team that put together data and presented our best case possible for the patent office.”

That team included the Dallas Regional Chamber and members of the Dallas business community, he said.

Part of the reason behind the drive to bring a patent office to North Texas is the hundreds of startup businesses that get their start in the area, Vickers said.

AT&T Inc., Alcatel, Texas Instruments and the University of Texas at Dallas are among some of the numerous business and educational institutions that frequently file patents, he said.

“We are a leader in areas of innovation and will benefit from having a patent office here,” he said.

The Denver Business Journal and the Austin Business Journal are affiliated papers of the Dallas Business Journal.